


If You Like Piña Coladas

by cmk418



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-20
Updated: 2011-08-20
Packaged: 2017-10-31 09:00:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/342259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cmk418/pseuds/cmk418
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clicking on a pop-up window, no matter how attractive, is very rarely a good idea.</p>
            </blockquote>





	If You Like Piña Coladas

“If you like piña coladas, getting caught in the rain…” the tinny computer speakers sprung to life when the pop-up window appeared on screen. Joyce had been looking online for some travel ideas – she’d wanted to take a trip with Buffy before their move to Sunnydale that August.

A woman’s voice seemed to purr over the music. “Are you tired of the same routine, day in, day out? Do you fondly recall days long past and wish you could reclaim them? Then Fountains of Youth is the place for you. Just click on the picture for more details.”

The pop-up box showed a peaceful scene of a beautiful beach, blue skies, palm trees, and best of all, seclusion. Joyce sighed. After this past year with Hank, and then the drama with Buffy at Hemmery, she needed a break. She clicked the link.

The computer screen went white, so bright it nearly blinded her. She closed her eyes.

When she looked at the monitor again, the pop-up had vanished and a “404 – Not Found” message was on the screen.

Not too far away, on the UCLA campus, Jenny Calendar was watching the web traffic for one of her spells. As President of the campus Techno-pagan Society (not to be confused with the Wiccan society – she didn’t bake), she needed to set an example by developing complicated spells for everyday use. The latest, an age-regression spell, would only trigger if certain conditions were met.

Apparently, certain conditions had been met.

Jenny was able to track down the URL to the computer that had activated the spell. It was located at a gallery on Wilshire.

>>>>>>>>>>

Jenny ran through all the possible outcomes of the spell. She didn’t expect to find a woman in her mid-thirties, spinning wildly in a desk chair in the center of the floor while listening to Pink Floyd at an ear-splitting volume.

“Wanna spin?” asked the woman. “Some of the paintings actually look better whizzing by. Whizz – that’s a funny word. Whizz, whizz, whizz. Wanna spin?”

“I’m not sure about…”

“Come on,” the woman pulled Jenny down into her lap. “Spin with me. Makes all the other stuff just disappear.”

“What’s your name?” Jenny asked. She could just put “Caucasian female, age 30-40” in her description of the spell results, but she wanted to personalize it if she could.

“Joyce Summers!” cried a man’s voice from the doorway. “What is the meaning of this?”

“I’m on lunch,” said Joyce as Jenny scrambled off her lap. “So were you.”

“The gallery was still open. What would our patrons think? That music, and…” He blinked, noticing Jenny for the first time. “I’m sorry, miss. I don’t know what’s gotten into her.”

“I do,” said Jenny.

“Well, put an end to it. I have a business to run,” the gallery owner stalked away.

“Is he always this much fun?” Jenny asked.

“More. Big stick in the mud,” said Joyce, sticking out her tongue at the man’s retreating back for good measure. “I’m feeling a little dizzy.”

“I’ll bet.” Pink Floyd was suddenly replaced with the hum and simple tones of new-age music. “This is what you normally play here? It’s not bad.”

“Not for the first hour anyway. This is his only cd,” Joyce shook her head as she pushed her chair back to her desk. “Hey, do you like piña coladas?”

“I’m more of a sex on the beach girl myself.”

“I heard this song earlier today – that piña colada song. They used to play it when I was in college. I knew a girl that looked like you there. Very pretty. She was very pretty. I wonder what happened to her.”

Jenny made a mental note that the spell made the recipient reveal more than she would under normal circumstances – part of the wave of nostalgia woven into it.

“There were times when we would… well, no beach was involved, but… you look like her.”

Jenny wondered if the spell affected hormones as well because Joyce’s lips were suddenly pressed to hers.

“Feels like I’m spinning again.” Joyce said.

“That’s just an effect that the spell is wearing off.”

“Ha! You cast a spell on me. Isn’t what they say in all of those cornball old movies?”

“I wouldn’t know.”

“You should try watching one once in a while. They can be so…”

Joyce blinked and looked at the girl on the other side of the desk. “Hello. First time at the gallery?”

Jenny took a step back. She didn’t think that the spell would have been completely erased from the affected person’s memory.

“Yes. Could you tell me about that piece over there?” She gestured to a painting on the opposite wall depicting a blue square, a red circle, and a yellow triangle on a white background.

“It’s called White Rectangle.”

Jenny laughed. “I can see that.”

“You seem familiar to me.”

“I get that a lot. So… tell me, do you like piña coladas?”

“Sometimes,” Joyce’s lips curved into a smile.

Jenny looped her arm through Joyce’s. “Come with me and escape.”  



End file.
